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So, something came in the mail today. My family chipped in and got it for me as a bit of a surprise. Still in a bit of mild shock, but pleasantly so.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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Congratulations, Daniel! That's beautiful! What a nice surprise!
What was the occasion? What it your birthday?
Please tell us all about it and post a video of yourself playing it!
When the work's all done and the sun's settin' low,
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow.
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great going Daniel now tell us about it.
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Nope, not near my b-day. This is a "just because" prezzie.
It is a Mendini MV300. Maple neck, back and sides, spruce top, painted/dyed rosewood fittings. Satin finish. Looks nice so far. There are a few minor imperfections, but nothing that looks like it will make it unplayable or anything.
Having just come through the mail, it isn't really ready to play yet. I've tuned up the factory strings and I'm doing the repeated tuning and looking at it a lot at this point. I'm also debating whether I may not just take off the factory strings and put on the set of Rotosound "professionals" that came in on Friday. I ordered those to try them on my electric, but I may end up putting them on this one to get rid of the factory strings.
Still running on a bit of adrenaline from opening it and first seeing it a little less than an hour ago. LOL
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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If you leave the factory strings on you will get lots of practice tuning.
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Yeah... and even just plucking them to tune them, they sound a bit deader than I've gotten used to. You talked me into it, springer. Changing strings. LOL
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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Ooooh, "just because" presents are the best. Enjoy!
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There we go, all restrung. Wouldn't have taken me that long, but the bridge fell just as I had the new set *almost* in tune. That is a bit startling. BANG! Sound post stayed in, though. It reminded me to mark the current location and orientation of the soundpost though. A pencil was too thick to get to it, but a bit of mechanical pencil "lead" Duck taped to a bamboo skewer managed that fine.
I'll let the strings relax for a while and just keep re-tuning and stretching them a bit every half hour or so. Hopefully in a couple hours they may have stretched in enough for it to hold tune well enough to play it a bit. It will probably be sometime tonight before the house quiets down enough to record what it sounds like, anyway.
Patience. Not a virtue I am particularly highly endowed with. LOL But strings take their time, and letting the instrument get used to local humidity and the string tension is good.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
What a lovely surprise for you DanielB.
I know what you mean by the bridge making a BANG while tuning, it has happened to me too. I never thought about the soundpost though.
O.K. so here it comes, newb question,
....... Why do you mark the location of the soundpost? Is it in case it falls and rolls around inside your violin? When that happens don't you have to take it to a luthier to get it back in place or do you mark it because you know how to get that post back in case you ever do have it fall?
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I probably wouldn't recommend most people try messing with the soundpost themselves, Fifi. But I would. I've worked on other sorts of instruments quite a bit over the years, and I have tools for getting into awkward places. The soundpost can't be too much worse than fixing a fallen brace in an archtop guitar (which also requires working through F holes).
I usually work on my own instruments, and have since I was a teenager. There isn't an actual luthier in my town or even close enough to be listed in the yellow pages.
But yes. Having marked it, if it falls I can get it back to at least very close to where it was. Or if sometime I try adjusting it to try and get a better sound, and it doesn't come out better, I can put it back at least close to where it was. The soundpost is nice and vertical as it is supposed to be. So I just drew a little line partway around where the post presses the back, and then made a little mark on the side of the post and on the back to show how the post is turned.
I don't think most people would have any need to do that, since from what I gather most people don't reset or adjust their own soundposts. But I am crazy that way. LOL
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
Gemini sound post setter. So easy, a caveman could do it.
(And me too.)
$75 of the best bucks I spent in violin land.
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What a lovely gift! I'm happy for you! 
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
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Thank you all for your good wishes.
I like the new violin a lot, but it is going to take a bit of getting used to. For any of you that play guitar, the difference between my electric and the new violin is kind of like if you had been playing something like a Strat or a Gibson SG and then picked up something like a Martin Dreadnaught. LOL
The action and string spacing definitely need some work, after the neck has at least a few days to settle. But the strings are starting to settle and I've been able to play it at least a bit. Still kind of iffy on being able to play more than maybe one piece before one or more of the strings will be enough out of tune that I have to stop for the sake of sanity (out of tune instruments really bug me). But that will pass, it just needs some time.
Oliver: Now that is a very sensible design for a post setter! I just may need to make me one of those. Simple enough little piece of gear. I had been thinking of using a claw, but neither the straight ones nor the flexible ones I have would be quite as handy for setting and adjusting the soundpost.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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It's been a good day for us postal customers.
Congratulations on your "just because" prezzie. 
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Sooooo cool Daniel, CONGRATS!!!!!! What a great surprise!!!!
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